Justice and Witness Ministries

United Church of Christ

700 Prospect Ave E

Cleveland Ohio 44115-1100

toll-free phone 866.822.8224

fax 216.736.3703

jwm@ucc.org

www.ucc.org/justice

United Church of Christ

1866-822-8224

www.ucc.org

www.stillspeaking.com

Justice and Witness Ministries & Justice and Peace Action Network

United Church of Christ

100 Maryland Ave. NE Suite 330

phone 202.543.1517

www.ucctakeaction.org

Franklinton Center at Bricks

PO Box 220

Whitakers NC 27891

phone 252.437.1723

fax 252.437.1278

Washington, DC 20002

Support Neighbors In NeedImagine,Another World Is Possible!To order more copies of this bible study and reflection guide:

contact United Church Resources at 800-537-3394

Another World Is Possible

Support Neighbors in Need

A BIBLE STUDY AND REFLECTION GUIDEProduced by Just ice and Witness Ministr ies , Uni ted Church of Chr ist Vo l .1 Issue 1

WRITTEN BY

Barbara T. BaylorMinister for Health and Wellness

Rev. Ervin E. MiltonDirector Franklinton Center at Bricks

Rev. Lois PowellMinister and Team LeaderHuman Rights, Justice for Women and Transformation

Rev. Pat Conover(Former) Legislative DirectorPublic Life and Social Policy

PRODUCED BY

Justice and Witness MinistriesRev. Diane Ford JonesMinister for Communication and Mission Education

Justice and Witness Ministries

Mission Statement Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christembraces God’s transforming mission to do justice, seekpeace, and build community. Therefore, in response to thecall of Christ, we speak and act prophetically through publicwitness, policy advocacy, issue education, and grassrootsempowerment to build a more just, compassionate, andinclusive world.

Support Neighbors In Need, a special mission offeringof the United Church of Christ that supports the UnitedChurch of Christ’s justice grants and advocacy programs.

Bible StudyResponding To JesusS c r i p t u r e : M a t t h e w 2 5 : 3 1 - 4 6

1I M A G I N E A N O T H E R W O R L D I S P O S S I B L E

T here is a saying: WWJD - “What Would Jesus Do?” It grows out of the

times in which we live when it is not always easy to discern the best

response to difficult situations. Many Christians in today’s world

respond readily to the question of personal salvation, accepting Jesus Christ as

their personal Savior. But the process of salvation cannot end there. Equally

important is the prophetic call of Jesus the Christ to respond to the world’s

injustices. WSID (“What Should I Do?”) is a question we ask ourselves and our

answer ought to be informed by our first question, “What would Jesus Do?”

The text in Matthew 25:31-46 reminds us that our connection with Jesus is

not just personal but also corporate. A relationship with Jesus puts us in

a fellowship with our sisters and brothers. In the scripture, verses 25 and

following, “I was hungry and you fed me...”

How does your personal understanding of the faith inform your view of justice issues?

Name some ways that you and/or your congregation can respond tosome needs of persons around you and in the world.

Name some ways that you can help change the system that hascaused the conditions that those persons are presently in.

Q U E S T I O N S :

123

12 S U P P O R T N E I G H B O R S I N N E E D

P R AY E R

God of health and wholeness, we pray for health and wellness of your people.

We pray for a system of health care equity, where all people are treated with

dignity and respect, where all your children will have access to the health care

services they need and deserve. Amen.

Balm is said to be a kind of aromatic resin which properties of healing.

Sometimes we turn the hard words of Scripture into easy ones, because of

our desire to maintain the status quo, not to offend friends and parishioners.

And so we have “made it into a lie.” We have offered a “balm” that we did

not have. We may have turned the gracious words of Scripture into hard ones

and so cut off persons from the experience of healing that is offered by those

words, thus making them into “a lie.” There is a balm in Gilead to make the

wounded whole. (Jeremiah 6:14)

D I S C U S S I O N / R E F L E C T I O N

1 How do we know whether such balm is available and how and whenthe offer of such balm is to treat “wounds of my people carelessly?”

2 Once we identify the balm, what should we do? How might we use it toheal our broken land and its people?

11I M A G I N E A N O T H E R W O R L D I S P O S S I B L E

health and well-being of our people. Seeminglythis is done without any thought, without empa-thy. Subsequently, more and more people areplunged into poverty and despair. They thenask, “What have we done?” They don’t speakhonestly and there is no turning; just turningaway to our own course, doing what is right intheir our own eyes. And what about us? Johnand Jane Q Public. We have remained silent.We have relied on the “I’ve got mine, you getyours” principle. We have not been sensitive tothe plight of others. Because of our greed andlack of compassion for God’s people, God’sheart is hardened and God laments for a sick and dying people for whom there is no healing, no closing of the wound.

Jeremiah says he is hurt for the daughter of his people. He mourns and is dismayed. Is therea balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is the health of my people notrestored? (8:21-22). The reason why there is no hope for the people, no healing in Gilead orin America today is because of the hardening of our hearts (9:2). Health care is a basic right.It is a moral imperative. We are the balm. We are the balm that we have been waiting for.

What can you do?

A merica’s health care system is failing. Itcosts too much, covers too little andexcludes too many. Stay on the battlefield

to fight for universal access to health care!Currently, Justice and Witness Ministries is advo-cating for Congress to enact legislation that pro-vides access to comprehensive health care for allAmericans. It does not endorse any one model ofreform. The faith community is called to engage inthe work of transforming our nation’s health caresystem into a just and compassionate system of

healing. Health Care Reform is a matter of faith. We must continue to advocate for thisreform and we urge you to contact congressional representatives to join the CongressionalUniversal Health Care Task Force and support the registration. It is also important that youwork in your state and local municipalities to begin to build networks for education andadvocacy within your own constituency and among other faith groups. Encourage yourmembers, neighbors and friends to share health care stories with us in our Wall of Woe online at http://www.ucc.org/wallofwoe/.

2 S U P P O R T N E I G H B O R S I N N E E D

Read for Reflection( M a r k 4 : 3 5 - 4 1 N R S V )

O n that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go acrossto the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him withthem in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great

windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was alreadybeing swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they wokehim up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Hewoke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then thewind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid?Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to oneanother,“Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

We are the resurrection

I f you have ever been in a small boat in open waterwhen a storm kicked up, you know how scary it canbe – even when you are wearing a life vest. It hap-

pened to me in the Gulf of Mexico off the FloridaPanhandle in a 19 foot sailboat. Water spouts could beseen in the distance, and waves arose that dwarfed theboat as it rocked violently back and forth. Rain poundedus and lightening brightened the skies. The rational partof me told me that it would take more than this to capsize the boat, that the keel was providingstability, that the mast was strong, that the lightening rod would protect us from shock, that thewater was warm just in case I went overboard.

Fear is not rational, however, and I experienced more than a few anxious moments as I held onas we rode out the storm. It passed, and we made it to shore a few hours later, tired but intact.It was also exciting out there, and challenging. Boats are designed to be in the water in a rangeof weather conditions and unless one is inexperienced or the elements are so severe that nomeasures can be taken except to hunker down, most of the time you are going to be OK.

The disciples in the boat with Jesus seemed to have forgotten a few things. Weren’t some ofthem fishermen before becoming followers of Jesus? One would think that James and John, forinstance, would have immediately known what to do to keep them all safe. Was anyone bailingout the boat? Who was rowing the boat to avoid being swamped? Instead of being pro-active,however, the disciples retreat to their fall back strategy: wake up Jesus, the carpenter. He’ll knowwhat to do.

After issuing the command to calm the waters, Jesus issues his retort to his followers: Cowards!Why are you afraid? Where is your faith? And they, awestruck, are amazed at Jesus’ powers tostill the wind and sea, which is a great way to avoid asking oneself the questions, “What could I

3I M A G I N E A N O T H E R W O R L D I S P O S S I B L E

have done? Why was I frozen with fear?” How often we look to others to do for us the things wemight do for ourselves, or to make everything better for us with the wave of a magical wand.

We are told that Jesus wanted to go to the other side of the sea. He had been teaching thecrowds who gathered on the shore for hours, and was exhausted. He and the disciples get intothe boat and Jesus falls asleep, a rare moment to rest and be renewed before facing whateverwould come next. But what comes next is not the man named Legion who lives on the other sideof the sea; it is the faithlessness of those whom he had chosen and called to follow him as theyencounter the storm.

It often feels as if we are being tossed andturned by the waves of injustice, by the windsof unmet needs of the worlds peoples, by thestorms of war and politics. These are times totry one’s faith - faith in a God who is just andgood, faith in our churches to be leaders in thestruggle for justice and peace, faith in ourselvesto stay the course and not retreat into findingways to meet only our own needs or fulfill onlyour own dreams. We feel vulnerable in times ofeconomic downturn and job loss. We feel vul-nerable since 9-11. We feel vulnerable notreally knowing who is telling the truth aboutwho knew what and when did they know itabout our country’s involvement in Iraq.

In times of vulnerability, we seek reassurance, and often we seek that reassurance from outsideof ourselves. Just as the disciples looked to Jesus to take care of their vulnerability in the storm,we, too, look for that someone to make the winds cease so our boat isn’t rocked and we aren’tafraid any more. We think a change in political parties will calm the storm. Or a different CEO orboss. Or a new mayor or school board president. The answer is “out there” somewhere.

But Jesus reminds us that it is our own faith and trust in God that will help us weather whatev-er storm confronts us. The line of a song from the singing group Sweet Honey in the Rock tellsit all: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Inside of each of us is courage, and strength, andinsight to lead, to inspire, to bring healing and hope to others. Should it be up to someone elseto stop racism? Or homophobia? Or insensitivity to those who are homeless or facing the chal-lenges of mental illness? Should it be up to someone else to challenge social policies or legisla-tion that denies rights or demeans God’s children? Should it be up to someone else to speak intothe silence of complicity?

Of what are we afraid? Of rocking the boat? The boat is already rocking! The storm is already here!

“Peace! Be still!” Into turmoil, into unrest, into uncertainty, into fear are spoken these words ofreassurance. Maybe Jesus was asleep as a sign of trust that the disciples could handle anythingthat arose. Maybe Jesus trusts us to be the Body of Christ together to face the fear knowing thathe is always with us. Maybe this is the resurrection that we are the resurrection!

10 S U P P O R T N E I G H B O R S I N N E E D

M ore than 43 million persons are withouthealth care in the richest country onearth. Why? Because the nation’s lead-

ership and the public are suffering from hearingimpairments. We do not listen to each other, nor dowe hear. We are not hearing the stories of theplight of millions Americans who are without healthcare and the circumstances that brought them tothat point. We are not hearing the stories of themany persons are under insured and who struggle to pay out-of-pocket costs for services.We are not listening and hearing the stories of those who are unemployed and have losttheir employer-based health coverage and we are not listening to the stories of thosewomen who fail to get good prenatal care or yearly exams for cancer. And finally, there arethe children. We are not listening to their cries at all!

Whom are we listening to? We are listening to the special interest groups that unjustly distribute the resources of the wealthy. There is a growing school of thought (and support)that “people can and should pull themselves up by their boot straps”, that people shouldexercise their personal responsibility regarding health habits and lifestyle, that people shouldpurchase their own health insurance, and the excuses go and on. The prophet Jeremiahcalls God’s people to task in this chapter by admonishing them to turn away from their sinsand to turn back to God and to get back on the right track. This turning away leads to thejudgement of falling, thus evoking God’s judgement. In Jeremiah 6:14-15, the prophet laysparticular responsibility on the leaders of the community not only for the economic corrup-tion of the people, but because they have placed a bandage over a gushing artery, saying,“Don’t worry, you will be all right.” They have carelessly attended to the wounded with apathy and without compassion.

How parallel this lament is today. Our leaders ask us to have trust in their decision makingprocesses, their budget proposals, their programs all the while they are slashing and cut-ting programs and monies that were designed and put in place to build and sustain the

No Balm in GileadIs there no balm in Gil’ead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

- Jeremiah 8:22

Read for ReflectionR e a d J e r e m i a h 6 : 1 4 - 1 5 ; 8 ; 9 : 1

9I M A G I N E A N O T H E R W O R L D I S P O S S I B L E

We need to risk for justice in our individual lives and, like charity, such risking, whatever itachieves, puts us in better relationship with each other for the several social and econom-ic purposes we share. Risking oneself for justice also puts one in right relationship with God.Most acts to defend justice and to expand justice require some risk. Stepping out for justicedraws the attention of those who think they are better off with the status quo, who see therequirements of justice first of all as threat. But we Christians, along with our Jewish broth-ers and sisters, remember that we were once slaves in Egypt, and that means we remem-ber our longing for the opportunity to live in a world based on justice and compassion.

The biblical images of Esther and Daniel trying to figure out how to live faithfully in the con-text of a world, a nation, that they could not control may feel more resonant for many wholive with justice consciousness in the United States today than do the images of Egypt. Whileit is true that we have democratic rights and can work at changing Egypt, changing Babylon,changing Rome, changing the United States, it is also true that we live in the meantimebetween the imperfect now and the hoped for then. We will draw close to the guidance andexample of Jesus when we embrace justice as a living verb instead of feeling alienated from justice because there is so much injustice, so much oppression, so much everydayunfairness in our personal and shared lives.

*Translation based on the New English Bible.

What is blocking you from appreciation of the bounty that is already inyour life and what are the next steps you need to take to start living out ofabundance, including finding joy in charitable activity?

What is needed for you to hear the word “justice” as good news in yourpersonal life, in your shared life, and in your relationship with God?

How does the concept of solidarity create a bridge to personal and sharedsalvation in the middle of everyday life? Contrast a grounding in solidarityto a grounding limited to “my life as I live it by myself?”

Jesus turned the concept of kingship on its head when he pointed out that“the greatest among you shall be your servants. (Matthew 20:25-28) What isthe guidance of this direction from Jesus for us as we live out our lives in theimperfect democracy and free market economy that is the United States?

D I S C U S S I O N Q U E S T I O N S

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23

4

4 S U P P O R T N E I G H B O R S I N N E E D

P R AY E R

God of creation, of the wind and the waves, we confess our fear in times of

uncertainty. Help us to know your presence in the storm. Help us to not live out

of fear, which can make us selfish and hardened to the needs of others, but to

live trusting in you, which makes us generous and joy-filled. Dear God, we need

each other to reach our dreams and to contribute our gifts to the building of a

just and lasting peace. You have called us by name. Help us to call upon each

other so that together we say to the forces that threaten us, Peace! Be still! We

pray this in the name of the one who awoke to trouble, and acted in love. Amen.

What “storms” cause the greatest fear for you?

What is your “boat”? What “boats” are being tossed around by today’ssocial and political realities?

What encourages you to speak into the “storm”?

When have you experienced God calming your fears?

If the church is the “boat”, what is needed for it to reach the other side?

Q U E S T I O N S F O R C O N S I D E R AT I O N :

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8 S U P P O R T N E I G H B O R S I N N E E D

Parents should not be put to death in place of their children and children should not be putto death in place of their parents. A person should only be put to death if they have sinned.

You shall not deprive aliens and orphans of justice, nor take a widow’s cloak in pledge.Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and God redeemed you from that place. This iswhy I command you to do this.” *

The first part of this section guides one away from opression. This is about not takingadvantage and is a powerful corrective to an oppressive understanding of “free market”principles that is too often reduced to “get what you can.” When you hear economic rulesand laws being justified by greed and narrowself-interest, then you know that the speakershave turned away from the good directions ofHebrew scripture, and the good news of JesusChrist, that we don’t have to live lives within theboundaries of selfishness, the selfishness of oth-ers and our own selfishness. The market can befree, in the sense of being open and equitableand guided by individual choices, without beingoppressive.

A Christian understanding of freedom can neverbe reduced to “doing whatever you want.” First ofall, there is elementary social constraint. Freedomto do what you want stops at the point that isdoes injury to others, and democracy has thehope of being self-corrective, in part, becausepeople will vote against those who, in the name of freedom or whatever other misdirec-tion, do injury to me. A Christian understanding of freedom directs one from the freedomto do what you want to the freedom to do what is right. Figuring out what is right may notbe simple, but the motivation and the landmark to do justice matter all the same. It is rightto pay wages on time. It is right that people should be punished only for the wrong thingsthat they have done.

We are reminded that we were once slaves, that we cannot assume that justice is automaticand firmly in place. Whatever there is of justice in our nation requires vigilance, caring, andaction or it will not be maintained, much less expanded. Wonderful things have happened inthe United States within the lifetimes of our oldest fellow-Christians. Official segregation wasended and voting rights were expanded. The legal oppression of women was ended.Accomodations for persons with disabilities must be provided in public settings. All that isneeded has not been achieved, but we have been given wonderful gifts of changed laws,changed structures, and the legacy of hopes that made such changes occur.

5I M A G I N E A N O T H E R W O R L D I S P O S S I B L E

Introduction

C harity and justice are both important biblical concepts in Hebrew scripture, in thegospels, and in the epistles. Both are responses to the needs of others and both, ifnot trivialized, are costly. In this bible study, the faith grounding of both activities will

be considered in terms of personal salvation, salvation in our relationship to others and sal-vation in our relationship to God. The assumption behind this approach is that both charityand justice are not “add-ons” to our faith but are core practices of our faith. This passageabove clarifies this theme.*

When you understand that practicing charity and risking for justice are sources of salvationand of happiness, then you can embrace the opportunities for charity and justice with pleas-ure instead of feeling that they are burdensome. This path to salvation, like others, requiresnot so much a change of mind, though that is helpful, as an opening and transformation ofthe heart, of re-centering your life around the callings and highest hopes given by God.

Charity

T he Bible is full of calls to charity and acts of charity. They include gifts to religiousleaders and organizations to sustain religious practice, gifts to the poor and particu-larly widows and orphans, and the obligations of hospitality - opening your home and

welcoming strangers. Much has also been written about the concept of Jubilee, of forgivingdebts so that those in the Jewish community would not be permanently alienated from theland, the source of life-giving sustenance.

In Deuteronomy 15:7-12, we find a passage about charity that is more appeal than law, that

Practice Charity, Risk Justice

M ake no mistake, my friends. All good giving, every perfect gift, comesfrom God. ...Only be sure that you act on the message and do not merelylisten; for that would be to mislead yourselves. A person who listens to

the message but never acts upon it is like one who looks in a mirror at one’s faceas given by nature. If you glance at the image and go away, you forget what youlook like. But if you look into the perfect law, the law that makes us free, and ifyou live in the company of that law, if you do not forget what you have heard, andif you act upon it, you will find happiness.

Read for reflectionJ a m e s 1 : 1 6 , 2 2 - 2 5 ( N E B )

6 S U P P O R T N E I G H B O R S I N N E E D 7I M A G I N E A N O T H E R W O R L D I S P O S S I B L E

allows us to see the healing, the salve-ation, the restoring and extending of community, thatcharity makes possible.

When one of your fellow-citizens in any of your settlements in the land which God is givingyou, becomes poor, do not be hard-hearted or close-fisted. Be open-handed and lend themwhat they need on pledge. Do not harbor iniquitous (evil) thoughts when they cannot payyou back in the 7th year, the year of the remission of the pledge. Do not look down on yourfellow-citizen or give them nothing. If you do any of these things, your fellow-citizen willappeal to God and you will be found guilty of sin.

Give freely and do not be stingy with your bounty. God gives you the bounty and will blessyou in all your undertakings.

“The poor will always be with you and Icommand you to be open-handed withyour fellow citizens, both those who arepoor and those who are distressed.”*

If all you take from this passage is a feel-ing of obligation, you are reading past thesources of salvation to be found there.

First, note that the passage is written tothose who have the economic resourceswhich allow them to be charitable. Theseresources are named as a blessing fromGod. Your money belongs to you but you donot appreciate it unless you understand that

it is a blessing. Without such appreciation, you feel unblessed and it is likely that howevermuch money you have you will feel it is not enough. When you appreciate that you have yourmoney as a blessing you are freed from a deep urgency to pile up more and more money andcan start living out of a feeling of abundance.

Without the feeling of blessing and abundance then charity, at best, feels like duty. With thefeeling of blessing and abundance your heart turns from your own needs and desires tocompassion for the needs and desire of others. Charity feels like a usual and happy activi-ty of caring for others and yields the building up of a sense of shared community, of creat-ing a society in which people take care of each other. Such a society can spend less on itsprisons and more on its parks. It is both personal and societal salvation.

Rightly understood, charity is also a path to spiritual salvation. The priests who wroteDeuteronomy see God in the ongoing process of giving the land to the Hebrew people. Thegift is not merely singular and historical, but current and accessible. To appreciate that allthe sources of one’s bounty; including in our time and place the United States—land, laws,resources, relationships, and opportunites—is an ongoing gift of God that lures us toward

being thankful in the midst of our here and now lives. We are reminded that we are crea-tures and that God is God. The issue of God-given rights is grist for another bible study. Herewe are reminded of God-given opportunity, given for us. To be charitable as an expressionof such thankfulness puts us in right-relationship with God, God the source of our createdlife and God the source of our created world, and God the source of hopes and dreams thatdraw us together in right relationships to each other.

With this perspective, we can see that when Jesus gave his life to affirm such truths,however hard it was to do, it was a gift of hope and of thankfulness.

Justice

T he bible is full of calls tojustice and acts of justice.The awareness of stan-

dards of justice deepens over bib-lical history from blood feud to aneye-for-an-eye, and finally to thegreat commandment to love yourneighbor as you love yourself(Matthew 22:39). Hebrew scrip-ture, the gospels, and the epistleshave all contributed to the emer-gence of the rule of law, and of democracy as the best way to create our laws. These con-tributions emerged over the centuries intertwined with principle-based Roman law and withlaws that merely reflect precedent. In the United States that we stand before the law bothas petitioners based on our own needs for justice and as those who are part of Caesar, thedispensers of justice. Attending to such double-mindedness can help us understand that weneed the guidance of the gospel more than ever. We need visions of justice to correct what-ever there is of narrow self-interest in our own petititons, and we need vision of justice todraw us toward greater fairness, equity, and compassion as we shape the laws and expec-tations that govern our official lives, that shape our institutions, and that reform our directrelationships with each other.

Once again we can find in Deuteronomy guidance that is more than obedience to the law.In Chapter 24: 14-19 we can see justice and charity closely intertwined.

“You shall not keep back the wages of a worker who is poor and needy, whether a fellow-citizen or an alien living in your country in one of your settlements. Pay the wages on thesame day before sunset, for those that our poor have set their heart upon them. If you donot pay on time, then the one in need may appeal to God against you and you will be guiltyof sin.

Igrew up in the country, in solemn communion with nature, celebrating thepatience and the peace that is stimulated by the outdoors. Each time that Ireturn to my rural homeland I feel the impact of physical and emotional

renewal. At that moment there surges up within me the sacred memory of myancestors, those whose arduous work forged the future of my family, our barrio,and our “native country” (patria). Although I have spent more than twenty yearsin the United States, I am not able to conceive of myself as an individual apartfrom Puerto Rico and the Latin American family.

The Danger of DisconnectionP s a l m 1 3 7 : 1 - 6

The large cities of North America offer avery different experience. Each onehas its high-rise central business

district which is surrounded by low-lyingneighborhoods inhabited by powerless anddepressed people. Many of us from thecountry, caught in this contrast, see ourdreams vanish the moment we findourselves separated from the harmonioussounds of our “native soil” (terruño). Thoughthe impact of this kind of environmentaltransition is quite involuntary, thepsychological and emotional dynamics thatwell up within us usually cause a feeling of desperation. This kind of psychologicalenslavement has trapped millions in mental prisons, journeying from their social/culturallocations to strange places that are totally foreign to their previous existence.

This is the situation that confronted the Israelites when they were uprooted from their nativesoil of Zion by the powerful nation of Babylon in 586 B.C. Jerusalem was left in ashes, andthey were transported to a strange country with a different language. In their existence asexiled, slave laborers in Babylon heir human dignity was diminished and devalued byoppressive forces.

Those who had made the original journey of dislocation also found themselves with newgenerations that were born in the foreign land. These younger Israelites, at first, grew uplistening to explanations of how they should understand themselves–not only as isolatedindividuals but also as a corporate community bound together by a common faith in God.Yet the separation from their familiar environment became increasingly catastrophic. Theyno longer had the physical and moral support of their sacred land and their Holy Temple.

P R AY E R

God, we are humbled by your omnipotence and comforted by your

omnipresence. Even in our moments of disconnection from the light of your

truth, you continue to reveal to us visions of Zion.

We bear witness to acts of inhumanity which leave us a broken people. We bear

witness to injustices, past and present, which leave us worn, weary, and

thirsting for righteousness. Yet, hope rises from the ashes of our sorrows as we

long for the day when justice reigns!

In the dangerous times of dislocation help us to not forget your promises. May

our journeys always lead us into community with each other and with you. Keep

us mindful of what it means to be your people and for you to be God.

Because the most basic characteristics of their national life had been destroyed, the eldersgradually began to abandon–consciously or not–the teaching about their virtues, theircustoms, and their characteristics as the people of God.

Psalm 137 shows us a people crippled by the disconnection with their native land, sittingoutdoors in resignation “by the rivers of Babylon” (v.1, NRSV). The people were paralyzed bythe enslavement to which they had been subjected. How should we understand the postureof sitting down? As one of resting or as one of inactivity? The act of resting during the courseof forced labor was a privilege, but the posture of inactivity was a danger. The nationaldepression captured by the words “and there we wept” (v.1) resulted from psychologicalparalysis and from the geographical distance from their homeland. Permitting new historicalinfluences to define their identity, instead of communicating the story that had defined them

as the people of God, was destroyingtheir security and future as a nation.The enslavement was designed to keepthe people submitting themselves tofeelings of powerlessness anddepression.

A crude danger exists in consenting tothe requests of our oppressors. Weshould not deviate from our role as thepeople of God in order to offer ourdivine activities for the entertainment ofuninformed spectators. It is no surprisethat the Israelites could not bringthemselves to provide frivolousentertainment for their captors: “Howcould we sing the Lord’s song in aforeign land?” (v. 4).

The concluding portion of our textdescribes the situation of the people of

God who have become the victims of racial injustice:

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! Let my tongue cling to the roof of mymouth, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. (vv. 5-6)

Their faith in God continued to be their only hope for survival; in the face of these oppressiveinfluences from the dominant society, their intentional, sacred “activities” were necessary fortheir culture to survive.

The lament of the Israelites in Psalm 137 is in unison with the lament of homelessPalestinians; it is in unison with the laments of abused prisoners in Iraq, and the countlessnumber of poverty-stricken refugees throughout the Middle East and in other war-torn areasof the globe. The lament of this Psalm may be heard quite easily if we pay attention to thecries of physically abused women and children, of African-Americans, Hispanics, Native

Q U E S T I O N S F O R C O N S I D E R AT I O N :

The situation described in Psalm 137 is clearly describing the feelings ofan oppressed people. Have you ever felt oppressed? Have you feltdisconnected, or forced into an alien space or way of living? If so, how?

Can you look around your church, your community, the world, and namepeople or groups that may feel oppressed or kept from being at peace?

Are there any thoughts or behaviors in your church or community thatmay contribute to feelings of disconnection, such as the Israelites feltwhen their captors asked for songs?

Do you believe striving to understand the causes and depths of sorrowthat make people sit down and weep will help us make this another,better world? If so, how?

What actions can your congregation or community take to work, insolidarity with oppressed peoples, toward peace with justice?

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Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who suffer from racism; it can be heardin the cries of poor European Americans. These groups, and many others worldwide, livetoday with the harsh realities of systemic racial, economic and environmental injustice.

How can the people of Vieques, Puerto Rico sing when the United States militaryestablishment refuses to clean the contamination of sixty years of bombardment? How canNative Americans sing when their people have been decimated and their land stolen? Howcan African Americans sing when they’ve been stripped from their homeland, and deniedreparations? How can the people of Micronesia sing when their islands have becomepoisonous with atomic toxins? How can poor European Americans in Appalachia sing whenthey are forced to move because of strip mining? How can our children sing when the airthey breathe is polluted by multinational pharmaceutical corporations who strive for profit atthe cost of lung cancer and other incurable diseases? How can we sing when seas areravaged by regular waste discharges from luxury cruise ships?

Despite differences between our situations and that of the Israelites in Babylon, we have asimilar challenge to maintain our faith in the midst of abuse–and to work for justice. TheChinese character for CRISIS is a combination of the separate characters for “danger” and“opportunity.” Let us unite our voices in prayer that the danger of dislocation may alsobecome the opportunity for empowerment of those who have felt voiceless, powerless anddepressed! We are called by God to a ministry of justice whose foremost responsibility is toensure respect for the human dignity of all people.

Written by the Rev. Dr. Carlos J. Correa and the Racial Justice Ministry Team.